FIRE HEART FAMILY

The information herein is from research and various sources with the most informative resource American-Tribes.com with the Fire Heart Family information here; amertribes.proboards.com/thread/347/big-head. In particular, thanks to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard and Kingsley Bray.




During the research several names and spellings were evident; Fire Heart, Fireheart, High Bird, Cantepeta, Cante Peta, Chante Peta, Henry, Hilarion, Chief, and Mr. This article will use Chief Fire Heart, or Henry Fire Heart with Lakota name Cante Peta.
Chief Henry Fire Heart (Cante Peta) was born in December 1850 in what was then Minnesota Territory, becoming Dakota Territory in 1861, and what is presently South Dakota. Blackfeet-Lakota historians believe he is Fire Heart V son of Fire Heart IV (born in 1813) and Her Hoop (Tacangleska) (born in 1819), and that he had one brother Sungila-Fox, sometimes Red Fox, born in 1861.
Mr. Bray wrote that Fire Heart was Fire Heart V but his name as a young man was High Bird. His father Fire Heart IV stated in the Black Hills council at Standing Rock Agency on 11 October 1876, that he wished to step down from the chieftainship and pass it on to his son High Bird. Background on the Fire Heart name by Mr. Bray is contained below.
Ms. Allard indicates that Cante Peta first married Winyanwaste (born in 1855) with no reference to any children. Her reference to his second wife, Mollie, is further documented below from records seen by this writer.
Entries in the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census indicate that Fire Heart and Mollie were married about 1881/1883 and that Mollie was born in South Dakota (present) in January 1853.
Mollie's mother was Cecelia and her last name has been referenced as Eagle, Eagle Feather, Eagle Tail Feather, and Eagle Tail. She was born about 1834 in North Dakota (present). In the 1900 Federal Census it indicates she had four children and one was surviving and in 1910 it indicates she was married twice.
The 1900 Census indicates Mollie had five children and that one surviving was living with them; Josephine. In researching all the census reports, these children were documented: Mary (1885), Maurice (1888), Albert (1889), Hilera (1893), and Josephine (Josie) (May 1895).
In early 1900's, Fire Heart and Mollie were living in Township 129, Range 79, Section 15. Josie had a land patent in Sections 14 and 15. Mollie also shared a land patent with an H. E. McKellar in South Dakota in Township 23, Range 28, Section 31. Running through Fire Heart and Mollies Section 15 and further west is a creek named Fireheart Creek and located in the same area is a Fireheart Butte. They also for a time lived in the Kenal, Corson County, South Dakota area.
This writer could not find death dates or burials for any of the above named family except for Chief Fire Heart and Mollie. He died on 26 October 1926 and is buried on the Reservation at the Saint Peters Catholic Church Cemetery. Burial, Tombstone Photo. Mollie died on the Reservation on 31 October 1922. Death Notice.
FIRE HEART NAME
by Kingsley Bray
Quoted In Part
Chante Peta, Fire Heart, was the name borne by a dynasty of leaders among the Sihasapa or Blackfoot tribal division of the Teton Lakota. Fire Heart V (ca. 1851-1926) was the leader who settled along modern Fire Heart Creek, a minor western tributary of the Missouri River just north of the modern North Dakota-South Dakota border.
The first Fire Heart mentioned in the written record was noted by Keating (1823) as one of the most prominent Teton leaders. In 1825 he signed the Atkinson-O'Fallon Treaty as the principal chief of the "Siounes of Fire Heart's Band", i.e. the Sihasapa. He may have been one of the cohort of Sihasapa chiefs who died in the smallpox epidemic of 1837. He was perhaps Fire Heart III.
The first Fire Heart, probably born somewhat before the year 1700, was according to Standing Rock traditions collected by Col. A.B. Welch, originally a Miniconjou, and was ca. 1730+ gifted with seed corn by the contemporary keeper of the Calf Pipe. The context was possibly the succession ceremony at the investiture of a new keeper of the Calf Pipe Bundle - by my reckoning White Cow Bull, keeper in the frame ca. 1735-1758.
According to more traditions told me by LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Fire Heart I was the father of one son who remained with the Miniconjou, and a second (Fire Heart II?) who joined the Sihasapa division, which I believe was emerging as an autonomous grouping in the mid-18th century.

Click on Image for Larger View
1. Older Fire Heart photo was taken by Frank Fiske and is from Digital Horizons - Life on the Northern Plains.
2. The headshot photo is a clip from the Older Fire Heart photo.
3. Young Fire Heart photo is from American-Tribes.com.

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